Education crisis threatens Fed plans to tackle nursing shortage
Federal Government plans for extra nursing places in universities could be thwarted by ageing infrastructure, a lack of clinical placements and a shortage of educators, nursing education leaders have warned.
The Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (Australia and New Zealand) is the peak nursing organisation representing the nation’s 37 Schools of Nursing. It has warned many schools could not cope with 1,500 extra nursing students in the short term because of a crisis in the availability of clinical placements for nursing students.
The Council welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s review of higher education and the extra places in universities, but said that additional funding was needed to ensure extra nursing students would get a high quality education.
